At least two of the free agent prospects that have come to town to visit with the Broncos over the weekend left without signing contracts with the team.

A year ago, that would have been unheard of.

That center Rex Hadnot and Dwan Edwards are not Broncos today is indictive of the new world of NFL free agency: Players might be asking for more money than teams want to spend, and teams are going to sign a guy they might not be 100 percent sure about.

Last year, the Broncos signed nearly every player (if not every one) that came here to visit as a free agent. Players flew here, met with coaches and executives and took a physical while their agents hammered out contract details. The visit seemed to be a mere formality. Even if guys had another visit planned, they didn’t make them. Cornerback Andre Goodman was supposed to head straight to Cleveland from Denver, but the Broncos never let him get to Denver International Airport without his signature on a Broncos contract.

But in 2010, teams across the NFL are bringing in players for visits and then letting them walk if everything isn’t just right.

This could be a result of the financial market not being quite what players hoped it would be. Perhaps some players — and their agents — saw a couple of the big-money deals handed out on the first day of free agency (ahem, Julius Peppers), and thought that teams were going to be in a spending free for all in the uncapped year. Instead, the market slowed considerably after the initial rush, and the price tag for the lesser-known players isn’t quite so hot.

Look at right tackle Tony Pashos. He immediately scheduled visits with the Redskins and the Broncos. He took his trip to Washington, and left without a contract. Instead of coming to Denver, he went to visit Cleveland, and eventually signed a contract with the Browns. You think that last year, if Pashos was in as high demand as the initial rush of calls indicated, Dan Snyder would have let him leave? No way.

And with the entire NFL bracing for a potential work stoppage in 2011, teams might be hesitant to sign players that they might not deem sure-things to long contracts. Why give a player guaranteed money up front now if there might not even be football in a year?

Deals are still going to happen, and the Broncos will be bringing in more free agents for visits this week. Just don’t think every player who steps off a plane at DIA is here to stay.

Sure, the Broncos have poached more than their share of players from the New England Patriots in Josh McDaniels’ tenure as head coach.

In McDaniels’ second go-round in free agency, two of his first targets came from another AFC power: The Baltimore Ravens. Particularly from the Ravens’ defense.

The Broncos have already snagged one: nose tackle Justin Bannan. A second Ravens defensive lineman, end Dwan Edwards, has also been to town for a visit.
The Broncos and Edwards have yet to reach an agreement.
That the Broncos are looking at players from the Ravens should not be a surprise. McDaniels repeatedly describes his desire to have a “tough” and “physical” team. Has there been a tougher, more physical defense over the last decade than the Ravens?

Baltimore has long played a 3-4 scheme, something that is still fairly new to the Broncos, and McDaniels, general manager Brian Xanders and new defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale don’t have to guess at how these players would fit here.

There could also be a further connection with Martindale, who is a longtime friend and colleague of former Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and the Ryan family. If these guys were “Ryan” guys in Baltimore, certainly they could be Martindale and McDaniels guys here in Denver.

Martindale was among the group of Broncos coaches and executives that accompanied Bannan (and new cornerback Nathan Jones) to a Nuggets game Friday night.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.